Septuagesima Sunday

 

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

    Grace alone. One of the touch points of theology is that we are saved by Grace Alone – that our salvation is due entirely to God's grace and mercy towards us. We do not earn forgiveness, though works will follow after grace. And historically in the Church this is an idea that gets so confused and muddled, but today, Christ lays this out so beautifully in our parable from Matthew 20 – the workers in the Vineyard.

    For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And after agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them out into his vineyard. Now, I want you to understand the point, the impact of this parable. Jesus is not telling this parable in a union friendly state. There are no government benefits, nothing like that. The rule was simple – if a man shall not work, he shall not eat. And who are these people standing there in the market place? They are the unfortunate souls who have no job. They have no income, no back up plan, nothing. And more than that – they are just “workers”. They don't have a specific trade to where they can try to latch on at some place already established – these are the bottom rung workers. And unless someone hires them, tonight they go hungry. That's their situation. And into the market comes this master of the house, and he hires these folks for a denarius a day. A Denarius was a good wage for a day-laborer; it was fair and generous. The master isn't playing hard ball, he doesn't negotiate them down. Just simply – let's do this fair and square. And they agree. Happily. In Greek, the word is “symphony” - that's how beautiful and harmonious this agreement is. And off they go.

    And going about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, “You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.” So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. Now, he hires three more groups of workers – but do you see the sense of desperation these workers would have been having? Think about it – how desperate do you have to be to go and work for someone who says, “wages, we don't need to set up any wages – just trust me, I'll pay you something.” But there they go. The day is wasting, and as that sun creeps higher and higher without them being hired, that's just a reminder that they will probably starve tonight – so take what you can get.

    Finally, at the 11^th hour, 5 O'clock, an hour before quitting time, the master goes out again. And about the 11^th hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, “Why do you stand here idle all day?” They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You go into the vineyard too.” We can hear this wrong. We can hear these workers say “because no one has hired us” and think, “Bums, get on out there and look for a job.” No – they've been there, where the jobs would be, all day. And nothing. The “idle” doesn't mean that they were loafing, it means that they hadn't found work... or more accurately, work hadn't found them. And so the master sends them into the vineyard. What happens next is wondrous.

    And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.” And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. This is mindblowingly generous. This would be utterly unexpected. This is bad business sense. But that's what the master likes to do. He shows over-abundant compassion. However, it does end up ruffling some feathers. Now when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also received a deniarius. And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” That harmonious agreement, not so harmonious anymore, is it? You've made us equal – how dare you say that we are equal to them when we've done more, we've suffered more! The master responds gently. But he replied to them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” That last line in the Greek is literally: “Or is your eye evil because I am good?” Look pal, I've dealt with you fairly, kindly – everything's been above the board. Why do you gripe? If I choose to show kindness to those poor schlubs who thought they were going to starve, that's no skin off of your back. Why does my kindness build up your resentment?

    This, dear friends in Christ, is the picture of Christ's grace to us, and also a warning of how and why we can end up hating God's grace. By the end the first workers are indignant – You have made them equal to us! We're so different than them! We deserve more! They view everything on the basis of what they themselves have done, and they become angry. Yet, the master is right. All of them were equal – they were all the same thing. Workers. Day-laborers. Folks who would have starved that day with nothing if the master hadn't gone and found them and put them to work. These first could have easily been the last if the master had hit different parts of the market in a different order. These angry workers failed to see that they were in the same boat as all the other workers, regardless of when they entered the vineyard. Yet they rage.

    What do you see when you look at your fellow Christians, your fellow sinners? How do you judge them, how do you size them up? Do you see them as folks who are in the same boat as you are – sinners struggling against sin who receive Jesus' forgiveness... or do you size them up on the basis of what you do, how hard you work, how much you've done for God, how much more in order your life is than theirs? Do you see them as the same as you, as equal to you – or do you find a way to see them as less than you, so that you really ought to deserve more than them?

    It was a false, misleading dream that God His law had given, that sinners could themselves redeem, and by their works gain heaven. The opening of the third verse of my favorite hymn. Do you judge, do you evaluate people on the basis of what they have done? If so, my friends, you have forgotten grace, and we are indeed saved by grace alone. Grace refers to a gift of God, freely given, without any merit or worthiness in me. And the simple fact is none of us deserve anything from God. We are born sinful, born in opposition to God, born at war with Him. And yet, simply and solely out of His great love, He calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light, gives us forgiveness, gives us life, gives us meaning and purpose to our lives. And this is not because of how great we are – no, it is how great, how good He is, in spite of our own jealous wickedness.

    Here's the thing. We know this. This is a Lutheran Church full of Lutherans. If I said “grace alone, grace alone” you all would smile and nod your heads, yes pastor, grace alone. But here's the thing; this is where Satan will attack you. We still like to check our works, we still like to get out the ruler and measure ourselves and compare ourselves to each other and get all prideful. When we do that, we forget truly what great gifts from God we have received. Or do you not know that even your works aren't “yours” in the sense that you created them – they are gifts from God to you.

    Consider again the workers from the parable. The very first group, the ones that so quickly become prideful in their own accomplishments. If the master of the house hadn't walked up to them and sent them into the vineyard, where would they have been at the third hour, or the sixth hour, or the ninth? Standing idle, waiting, fearing for the future, wondering if they were going to starve. This is why they rejoiced in the morning, this is why they gladly went into the fields. Even working itself was a gift – now they knew that they would be provided for, their day had certainty instead of doubt. And even though the work was hard it was still a great blessing to them. And if they had never looked at what anyone else got, they would have taken their denarius with joy and satisfaction and gone home glad.

    God gives us our bodies, clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, all that I need to support this body and life. Our vocations, our ability to work at all is a gift from God. We now live under Christ in His kingdom and serve Him! What a gift! Now, if this is all a gift from God, where do I get off thinking that I should look at what I do, my life, which is a gift from God gift from God, and then start jawjacking at God about how He's not giving me enough because I do more than that person over there? How dare You, God! You give me talents and opportunity that others don't have – but then You dare to not give me more on top of that! Kind of stupid, ain't it? All sin is when we step back and think about it.

    God is a giver. He is gracious – that's what grace is, it is a gift that is given. And God gives you good things. Left to our own, we would only earn death – because the wages of sin is death. But instead God chooses to give you good things – the free gift, the grace, is eternal life in Christ Jesus. And yes, there are works that you do – but these are given to you by God, and He doesn't judge you based upon them. Rather, you are judged righteous and forgiven in Christ – your sin and failures are crucified with Christ; your life you live in Christ. And God has promised to keep giving you good things - it's what He's promised you, it's the deal He gave you at Holy Baptism when you were called away from standing idly in this world and brought into His kingdom. His grace for you is freely given, and it never fails. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the world +

Transfiguration Sermon

 

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

    The transfiguration of our Lord – where Jesus takes only three of the disciples with Him – Peter, James, and John – and there on the mount Jesus is transfigured – He starts shining, His divine glory begins to radiate forth, no longer hidden or obscured. And Moses and Elijah are there talking with Jesus! Ah, glory, glory Hallelujah! What could be a better thing to see, what could be a better experience? In fact, in modern parlance we will talk about the incredible emotional highs of having a “mountaintop” experience, where everything is just so awesome and wonderful, but alas, you can't stay on the mountaintop all the time, you've got to come back down. And we can hear this text and think wistfully, “Oh, to have seen that, oh that we were there! How awesome would have have been.”

    Before we continue with the sermon, I would like to just remind everyone of a simple fact. You and I – we're sinners. We are sinful people, and as we are sinful, we are prone to delusions and prone to overestimating what we would do in a situation. “Why, if I was there when those villains came in, I'd have shown them what for!” We tend to think of ourselves as braver or bolder than we are – we forget the andrenaline rush as fight or flight kicks in, the fast talking terror where we are slightly out of our mind, racing along, and our plans go flying out the window. That's reality. And it's reality for Peter, James, and John. They are not just disciples, not even just the top disciples, but they are also sinful men, and they see something strange.

    And [Jesus] was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with Him! It is a fantastic scene. It is wondrously awesome. Jesus is glowing, and two of the greatest heroes of Scripture are there – Moses and the Elijah, the prophet par excellence. This would be a lot to take in, would it not? This would be rather overwhelming. This is not something that anyone, especially not people like you or I, would ever plan for. And as such, we hear and see that Peter is overwhelmed.

    And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Well, Pastor, Peter doesn't sound too overwhelmed. He says it's good and then he's quite willing to help. Sometimes we take the conversations in Scripture too much at face value – we forget how people talk. What Peter is doing right here is he is giving a polite excuse to get out of dodge and run away. You know what this is – “Oh, dear, your sister is here – how wonderful that she's here... um, you know, I should go get some stuff done in the garage.” Except Peter, and here I will give him great credit, is really sharp, and his plan is fantastic.

    Fantastic!? How is “let me pitch three tents” a great plan? Well, here you need to think Old Testamentally. What is a tent? The tent is the place of sojourn in the wilderness – when Israel was wandering around in the desert, they all dwelt in tents. There was even the festival of booths, where Israel would camp out for a few days to remember and celebrate how God was with them even in the 40 years in the wilderness. And in those forty years, when God dwelt with the Israelites, He didn't just wander around in the midst of them – the LORD stayed in the tabernacle, in the big tent. That's where His glory was safely kept – and Moses would be the one who would talk to Him – and in fact, Moses' face glowed with reflected glory, and it freaked the Israelites out, so they made Moses wear a veil – they made Moses wear a head tent. So what is Peter saying? It's great to be here and see all this glory – now if you will, please let me go off, find stuff to make some tents, and then come up here where I can stuff You and Moses and Elijah safely in tents so I don't have to see your glory here. “Dear, it's great that your sister is here – you know, why don't I get her and you and nice room at that spa resort an hour away so you can have a wonderful time with each other.”

    Do you understand? Peter doesn't say, “It's great to be here – Moses, tell me about the burning bush!” “Elijah, what was it like when the prophets of Ba'al were crying out?” Peter's not asking questions of Moses or Elijah; he's not intensely listening. He's finding a way out. And the thing is – Jesus didn't bring Peter up on that mountain so Peter could come up with brilliant ways to duck out – Jesus brought Peter there to see, to listen, to hear. And in fact, to emphasize that point, while Peter is still speaking, as Peter is making his pitch, “behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.'” The glory of the LORD, the cloud that covered the tabernacle, arrives – and the voice of God booms forth – the voice that only Moses during the Exodus could bear – and that voice says, “Listen to Jesus. Pay attention to Jesus.” You aren't here for tents or busy work – you are here to listen to Jesus.

    And the disciples do the only sensible thing. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. Well, I know personally, that when I'm dreaming about having my own mountaintop experience, I always want it to end with me hitting the dirt in abject terror. But the disciples are, face down in the dirt. Duck, cover, close your eyes until it's all over so you don't have your face melted off by the glory of God. Utterly sensible. And the disciples would have laid there for a long time, except something happens. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. Now, imagine the relief, the deep sigh as the fear and worry just leaves your body. They saw just Jesus – and just the normal Jesus they were used to. The Jesus they were used to walking around with and listening too, just as the Father had told them to.

    Don't misunderstand me – the transfiguration was an incredible, astonishing experience. Peter is even willing to point out how amazing it was – We ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain. Yeah, if it's a contest about who has had the most amazing religious experience, Peter points out that his experiences will top your experiences. But here's the thing – it's not about our religious experiences (which often are much more terrifying than glamorous) or even about our emotions or our reactions. No, as Peter points out – And we have something more sure, the prophetic Word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. It was something else to see Jesus in His glory face to face – but in this life time, while we are still sinful folk, we aren't ready for that. So God has given us something more sure – the Prophetic Word – the Scriptures and the preaching there upon. While we are in this dark place, while we are sinners in a sinful world, it is by the Word of God and preaching that we can hear Jesus, listen to Jesus, receive Jesus in a safe way.

    This sets the stage for everything that Christ Jesus is getting ready to do – this sets the stage for Lent and for Holy Week. Because here we see the base problem of sin laid out for us. Sinful man just cannot bear being in the presence of a Holy God and His glory... and the thing is, that's what we had been created for. To be with God – to enjoy the gifts God gives, but also to be able to pause and talk with God in the cool of the day whenever He comes around. And as sinners, we can't. And so the whole program, the whole plan of what Jesus is doing throughout the entirety of Scriptures is that He will come to you in ways that you can handle – through the Word, through preaching – through the Word tied to water, through the Word tied to bread and wine. But He will come to make it to where there will be a restoration of sinful man, where we will be rescued from our sin, from the debilitating impact of sin, where we are less than what we were created to be... and Jesus will rescue us and restore us and make us new to where we can be with Him in His glory and talk with Him and enjoy His presence fully and unabated.

    And do to that, Jesus is going to have to defeat sin and death. Jesus is going to have to veil His power and come into this world, and He's going to have to face down temptation, and He's going to have dive on into death to pull us out of death. That's the purpose of the Cross. And as for us – we're to watch Jesus, to listen to Him, to be focused on Jesus and what Jesus is saying and doing. We see Christ the Crucified – we hear Him in the prophetic word, and our sins are forgiven. And all of this is to build our faith, to make us ready for that time when we will see Jesus face to face, when we will pass through death unto everlasting life with Christ Jesus. And Jesus is patient, and He prepares you, and He gives you growth – and in ways typically that you can handle, here in His Church. The wild, mountaintop experiences are thankfully few and far between, and most of us will never see them – and that's a good thing, actually. Because Jesus works for you in the Word through the Holy Spirit, working forgiveness, life, and salvation in you. And you will see it – you will see Jesus chatting with Moses and Elijah and Peter and James and John – but you'll see it in the life of the world to come, when Christ has made you ready for it, to be part of it, to enjoy it for all eternity. This is what Jesus is doing, and the Father is well pleased that He is. Listen to Jesus. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

Epiphany 2 Sermon

 

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

    So this year, because Easter is so early, in March, we are only going to get one normal Epiphany text. Next week it's already the Transfiguration – it's going to be a short season. So here we are – one weekend, one Gospel lesson. And in this lesson Jesus will be revealed, who He is will shine forth. So, that's going to be our approach this morning – we are going to look at this text and see what we learn about Jesus. Who actually is this Jesus, this true God and true Man. What's He like?

    Before we look at the text, I want to explain why it's so important that we see from the Scriptures who Jesus actually is. In the next few months, especially on various shows, you will hear all sorts of junk about what Jesus would do, who He was, all sorts of baseless conjecture from all over the place. Back when I was in college, they released those “What Would Jesus Do” braclets – they were supposed to help one think about the love that Jesus would show. Except in the following years people seem to have taken that as a challenge to just make stuff up, to fabricate their own head cannon Jesus – where my Jesus would vote for my political party, and He'd give me a pony, and so on and so forth. And the discussions on Jesus have become less and less tethered, less and less tied to the Word of God. No – we can't do that, we dare not treat Jesus like our imaginary dream boyfriend – we're not children playing with dolls or action figures here. If you want to know what Christ Jesus, the Word of God, is really like, you have to look at the Word of God. So, let's dive in.

    On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with His disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no more wine.” So John gives us the setting. This is shortly after Jesus' baptism, and He's just gathered the first disciples. And Jesus shows up at a wedding – probably the wedding of a cousin, as Mary is helping out in the back to run the thing, and that's what your aunts did back in the day, and they run out of wine. This would be an embarrassment, a sadness – a sign of bad luck, as it were. And Mary does something interesting – she drops a motherly hint to Jesus. You know those, right – if mom says, “Boy, the trash can is pretty full” she's not just stating a fact, there's an implied, “so you better go take it out.” Mary sees a problem – and she knows that her son has started His ministry, that He's gathering disciples. Mary thinks it's go time, and she's eager!

    And here we get to see Jesus in action. And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Okay, so what do we see from Jesus? First, He is polite. We hear that “woman” and it can throw us off – Jesus is saying “ma'am”. He's being very polite, this is a very prim response. But this response is also a denial. Mom, if you are hoping for pyrotechnics and loud flashes and everyone fawning over your Son, it's not going to happen right now. It's not the time for it. This wedding day is about cousin Sal – it's not My great day. So do you see Jesus? He's polite, but He's also grounded and level. He's not seeking glory. He doesn't seek to throw His power around – He doesn't want to steal anyone's thunder. And He is patient. Jesus is ready to wait for the proper time and the proper way to do things.

    One of the things that sin does, one of the way that sin attacks us, is we can be tempted towards self-aggrandizement – where we want to make a big deal of ourselves. Where we want to steal the spotlight, where we want everything to be about us. And it never goes well, and it ruins things, sucks the joy right out of them. But Jesus doesn't get wrapped up in that sinful attention grabbing circus. Rather, He remains focused. This celebration isn't to be about Me, so I'm not going to muscle on in. It's not my time yet, so I'm going to wait, I'm not going to jump the gun. Jesus is patient, and He is not a glory hound.

    But that doesn't mean that Jesus won't do anything, and Mary knows it. His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” Mary knows her Son. If there is a problem, Jesus will solve it. He won't draw attention to Himself; He won't throw a parade or toot His own horn – but He will show love, He will solve the problem, He will fix things. And how? Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. And here's the miracle. The water is changed, at some point, into wine. When the master tastes it, it will be wine. When was the change– don't know. It just happens – quietly. Without a lot of fuss. These stone jars were probably off out back, out of the way (because they weren't going to be used at the party), and Jesus has the servants fill them, then Jesus has the servants take the wine – no one sees Jesus doing anything. In fact, Jesus is quite hands off. It's subtle, it's quiet. Other than the servants (and the disciples who would have been hanging out with Jesus), no one at the wedding would have a clue that Jesus is involved.

    Do you see who Jesus is? He is humble. He is focused on the task at hand. What does this wedding need – well, it needs more wine, and this is how We will do it. Quietly, simply, no body has to know, when you give, give so that your left hand does not know what your right hand is doing. And Jesus works through the servants. He doesn't sigh loudly, roll His eyes at Mary and say, “You were supposed to handle the supplies, but I guess if you want something done right, do it yourself.” Nope – servants, here's your job. It's work, but it's simple – fill up jars with 150 gallons of water – quite a bit of lugging water but not too hard. Now go give some to the master. You'll do this – you're the servants, your job is handling the wine and food, and I'll let you do that. Jesus understands vocation – that people have jobs, callings, responsibilities that He has given to them, and He has them do their jobs.

    You do realize that Jesus works through you in your various vocations. Paul will even claim that in reality it is no longer Paul who lives, but Christ who lives in him. Jesus accomplishes good and great things in your life, in your home, in your community, through you. You're His servant, and He's placed you were you are to love the neighbors He has given you. If you're a parent, love your kids. If you're a kid, honor your father and mother. And in these simple relationships of service and love, great things get accomplished. We often think of Jesus doing miracles, but we can forget or neglect how wondrously Jesus works good things through us, through the normal things of life. That Jesus uses us to accomplish good things for our neighbors, and Jesus uses our neighbors to give us good things and provide for us. All very simple, and Jesus is content to remain in the background. Jesus works through means, He uses people and places and things to accomplish His good and gracious will, even when we don't particularly notice what He is doing.

    When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who drew the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus makes all things good. Of course He does – that's literally lesson one from Genesis 1 – and it was good. And this master of the feast, who runs things, who oversees how food and drink would be served to the crowd, is a bit flummoxed. What's with this good wine now – you do good first, then the... poor, eh – the lesser wine. The weaker, the not so strong wine. Let people have a nice strong drink or two, and then you water things down. The master sees that the party continues on without getting too messy. And Groom, come here – you have to talk to your family serving staff – we're going to have to cut this wine, water it down. This was the stuff you should have started with.

    Do you see, it's an overflowing blessing. It's wine to last for days. It's not just Jesus makes 150 gallons of wine... really He's made wine that will be cut into 450 gallons of tasty beverage for the folks at that wedding to enjoy. They most certainly will not run out now, and it all will be good. And very few people know what's going on – servants, disciples, that's it.

    And you, you are a servant of Christ Jesus. You are a disciple – and this is a reminder to you. You follow Jesus, you see what He's doing... and so you'll know what is going on, how Christ is at work in the world, for the world... and the world won't understand. So be it, you pay attention to Jesus, you watch Jesus, you listen to Jesus, and see what He does. Because this humble Jesus, who isn't showy, who is patient and kind – you will see Him journey to the Cross. You will see Him fix the problems not just of a simple wedding, but you will see Him address and deal with the problems of sin and death – you'll see Him win salvation with His death upon the Cross and you'll see Him rise again to establish the wedding feast of the Lamb in the life of the world to come. That's why this first sign Jesus does happens at a wedding – that's the through-line image of the Scriptures. Creation – it's a wedding feast. Adam and Eve, you've been joined together by God, enjoy your wedding present of all creation. The End, Revelation -  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. A wedding feast, a reception and party without end is the biblical image of what eternal life will be like. And Jesus has come, not to garner praise, not to toot His own horn, not to throw His weight around. He's come simply for this – to see that the everlasting celebration where God gives you blessing upon blessing, grace upon grace, carries on. And it will be good – good like it was in the beginning, and because Jesus saves, good it shall ever be.

    That is who Jesus is, and we will watch Jesus in the weeks to come as He makes His way to the Cross to win, to establish, to secure your everlasting life. And it will be good. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

Baptism of our Lord Sermon

 

Baptism of our Lord – January 6^th and 7^th, 2024 – Matthew 3

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the world +

The week after Epiphany the church traditionally observes the Baptism of our Lord with the texts we have heard today. This is quite fitting. In every single Gospel, Jesus begins His preaching, His teaching after His Baptism. And there is a point to this – because it is here, at His Baptism, where Christ Jesus begins in earnest the work that He was sent by His Father to do – the work of winning your salvation. This is the point where it all begins. So then, without further ado, let us examine our Gospel text.

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?’” So here we see Jesus come to John to be Baptized, and John is out where he normally is, the Jordan river, off at the edge of the wilderness. Yet, when Jesus comes to John to be baptized, John is confused. I suppose it is an understandable confusion, as John was baptizing sinners – and Jesus is no sinner. Indeed, Jesus has no sin of His own, Jesus is the promised Messiah, True God and True Man. John even admits that he himself is poor and lowly and needs to repent himself, but Jesus doesn't “need” to. So far, so pious. But John goes a bit beyond just confusion. John would have “prevented Him.” John would have stopped Jesus from doing what Jesus wanted to do. Now, think on that for a moment – Jesus, whom John acknowledges as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, comes up to John and says, “I’m here to be baptized,” and John says, “Now, just wait here one minute. That’s not how you’re supposed to do it.” It is a bit arrogant, isn’t it – to tell Jesus that He must be mistaken, simply because John doesn’t understand.

Yet, how often do we read God’s Word, see what our Lord says or instructs us, and then are tempted to think, “Oh, surely Jesus didn’t mean that”? That’s the heart of every false doctrine you can think of – it comes where someone sees what our Lord declares in His Word about who He is and the forgiveness He brings and then says, “Oh, that can’t be it - surely there is something else going on here.” It makes sense, because the very essence of sin is to doubt God’s Word – in the Garden, the temptation is “Did God really say”. And when it boils to it, every sin, including yours and mine, is an attempt to prevent God from doing what He wills through you; every sin is just trying to get in His way. God tells me that I should love my neighbor; indeed that I have been created to love my neighbor, placed into this world so to care for him – yet what happens? I get angry, upset, annoyed – and suddenly, no, I don’t want to show *him* love. Surely that whole “love your neighbor thing” doesn’t apply to someone like *him*. Our sinful flesh wants to ignore God, to contradict God, to correct God. Surely You didn’t mean what You said about sin, about love. Sadly, some say this about God’s forgiveness, or even as we see John in the text, surely, Jesus, You don’t mean to be baptized here this day.

Yet Jesus corrects John with words of wonder and beauty. “But Jesus answered Him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’” This is a big, big thing that Jesus says. Actually, if you wanted to you could probably call this the Gospel in a nutshell – because this is what we proclaim week in and week out – that Jesus Christ is our righteousness, and that He has fulfilled it all. Since the fall, righteousness has been a bit of a sticky wicket for us folk, because we do not have it. There is not one of us who is righteous – that is, who does what he or she ought to do. There isn’t a one of us who is perfect, who shows the love that we ought. Instead, we are sinners, and even us here, we Christians who know better, we still keep on sinning. Our old Adam, our sinful nature keeps on popping out, and we do not do what we ought. What does this mean? It means that we, of ourselves leave righteousness unfulfilled. We are not righteous, we don’t do what God in His law demands – in fact, we seem to have made a hobby of sinning and breaking God’s Law.

John knows this – that is why he had been preaching repentance and baptizing for repentance. To repent is to admit and confess that you are not righteous, that you in and of yourself aren’t all that great. Indeed, it is to say that you are a sinner. And not a little sinner, not a “but at least I’m not as bad as *he* is” sort of sinner – but a poor, miserable sinner, who can do nothing to make yourself righteous. That is what those people being baptized by John were saying – that they were poor miserable sinners, that they were stuck in a pit and unable to get out of it, that their only hope was to receive salvation from the Lord.

And suddenly, in the midst of those sinners strides Christ Jesus our Lord, and He walks right on up with them, and He comes to John to be baptized. Why? Not because Jesus is a sinner, but because they are, because you and I are sinners. He comes to fulfill all righteousness. You and I – we’re not righteous. We aren’t filling anything. But then you have Jesus – and who is Jesus? He is true God and true Man. He is Man, perfect, without sin. He is Man who is righteous. But more that than – He is the righteous Man sent by God in order to fulfill all righteousness. All – Jesus comes to fulfill all righteousness – He comes to fulfill your righteousness. Where as you had a lack, Jesus comes to be with you, to not only take away your sin, but to give you His own righteousness. This is what Paul is referring to when he says in our Epistle that Jesus is our righteousness. When He is baptized, Jesus takes His place at your side and He says to you, “I will cover your sin, take it away, and in its place I will give you My righteousness, so that you are accounted righteous because of Me.”

Let me give an example. Let us say that you are on a basketball team, playing for the state championship. And let’s say you are utterly lousy – you turn the ball over 20 times, you miss every shot you take, you don’t get any rebounds or steals or blocks. Indeed, you are so bad that every moment you are on the floor it hurts your team. Yet, what if one of your teammates is brilliant, makes every shot he takes, rebounds, steals the ball from the other team, blocks their shots, dominates the game completely, and your team wins – what are you? What do they call you? They call you State Champion. You’re a State Champion, not because of how awesome you are, but because your teammate’s greatness is applied, is given, is shared with you.

When Christ Jesus is baptized, He says that He is One of us – that He will be on your side, and that even though you lack righteousness, even though you're a horrible sinner, He will take up the burden of your sin, and He will give you His own righteousness and holiness. And everything you see Jesus doing in the Gospels after His baptism is simply Jesus fulfilling your righteousness. While you don’t show love – He shows love perfectly for you. While you don’t always like the Word of God – He does nothing but preach it, calling all to repentance and instructing you in truth. While you deserve to die for your sin, He goes to the cross in your place, dying so that you would have life everlasting in Him. Because Jesus takes up your sin and gives you His righteousness, you are called, you are declared righteous – you are Justified. That’s what that word Justification means – it means that on account of Christ Jesus, you are forgiven and declared righteous.

And this is why Baptism is so important. When Jesus was Baptized, He took His place with mankind, said that He would be with the sinners in order to fulfill righteousness for them, in order to justify them. When you were baptized, when God poured water and His Word, His Spirit upon you, you were joined to Christ, Jesus brought you to His side by your baptism, and through your Baptism He declared that all of His righteousness, everything that He does, is yours. Everything that Jesus does, He has done for you, and you know this, because you are baptized, because He has joined Himself to you. You are justified by Christ. And all this gets its start, all of this is shown and revealed to us when Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan to fulfill all righteousness.

So, did it work? Did Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan do what He said it would, does your Baptism now save you, as Peter teaches in his Epistle? I ask only because there are those who deny that Baptism really does anything, who say that it’s just a symbol, that it doesn’t really accomplish anything. “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” Well, let’s see – does the Baptism of Jesus accomplish anything? Well, the heavens open, and the Holy Spirit comes, and the Father says that He is well pleased. Well, I’d certainly say that when Jesus is baptized a lot happens. It’s not just a symbol, symbols don’t cause the heavens to open or the Spirit to come or the Father to declare His pleasure. Jesus’ baptism accomplished what He said it would, it fulfilled all righteousness.

This is why you know that your baptism accomplished something in you. When you were baptized, heaven was opened unto you, for you were no longer just a sinner, but you were a forgiven, justified sinner. You were no longer a stranger to God, in rebellion against Him, but the Holy Spirit came to rest upon you in your Baptism, indeed, where you can now say that you body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit. And God the Father, now, when He sees you, He too sees you as His own Baptized Child, and because Christ Jesus has given you His righteousness – the Father is well pleased with you, you are the beloved child of the Father. It is all done by Christ Jesus for you, and it is given to you in His gift of Baptism.

Does this gift of Baptism mean we are perfect now? No – we are still sinners, we are still in these fallen bodies. This is why we look forward to the resurrection, to the life of the world to come when we will be perfect. But until then, even now, we have life and salvation, we have our righteousness fulfilled in Christ. This was given to us at our baptism, it is given again whenever the Word of God is proclaimed, whenever we receive the Supper. It is always about Christ Jesus, who shows Himself to be our Savior, our Redeemer – the One who fulfills all righteousness for us, all praise and glory be to Christ Jesus our Lord. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +